Out now to order or subscribe, from TTA Press, is issue 34 of Black Static, which contains stories by Nina Allan, Joel Lane, Andrew Hook, Sean Logan and (in case you hadn’t already heard all of my shouting and bawling about it) one from me. Includes the usual column by Stephen Volk and a new column by Lynda E. Rucker.

The artwork this issue is simply brilliant, with gorgeously unsettling black and white illustrations for each story, and Ben Baldwin’s delicious and nightmare-inducing colour art for the front and back cover.

And this month’s Interzone looks to be a fabulous issue as well – with stories by my buddies Priya Sharma and Georgina Bruce (whose TTA debut, Cat World, makes its appearance here – and a wonderful story it is) alongside tales by Steven J. Dines, Jess Hyslop, Nigel Brown, Aliette de Bodard, Lavie Tidhar and Shannon Fay.

It’s probably been about twenty-five or thirty years since I read The Hobbit. My lovely old paperback copy was foolishly loaned to some “friend” and never seen again. The one thing I remember more than individual plot details is the surprising amount of incident in the book, and the way the plot escalates from a very small beginning – “In a hole in the ground lived a Hobbit.” – to giant spiders, Smaug the dragon and the Battle of the Five Armies.

Much of the critique made of this movie and its coming sequels has focused on the padding out of a small children’s book into something bigger than is necessary; something that is perhaps too rambling and overlong to convey the essence of the book that The Hobbit originally was. While I understand that criticism, I also understand why Peter Jackson has decided to take the path he has. The Hobbit as it was originally written would be impossible to film unless it were done in total isolation to the Lord of the Rings films, with different actors and a different look and feel. Tolkien returned to The Hobbit a number of times to revise the story to bring it into line with Lord of the Rings, even providing one revision that was rejected by the publisher, because it was no longer recognisable as The Hobbit. I see this film as another revision, but in this case it’s Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens who are revising The Hobbit to bring it into line with their vision of Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings films. It’s evident that they are making it a true prequel by showing the rise of Sauron and I wonder if we will see the Battle of Dol Guldur amongst other scenes only written in the appendices of Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.

It’s by no means a perfect film, but I found it to be extremely enjoyable. I had watched Fellowship of the Ring the night before as it had been on TV, and it was interesting to compare the two films – both opening chapters of a cinematic trilogy – with Fellowship doing the opposite of An Unexpected Journey, in that it streamlined a rambling first novel (certainly the first half of the novel which meanders all over the place) into a compelling, pounding narrative that has a tremendous urgency about it from the outset. An Unexpected Journey tries to start in a similar way, with the history of Erebor and the dwarves shown at the outset, and an urgent chase atmosphere is set-up with the pursuing Orcs, but it doesn’t have the same kind of urgency as Fellowship and is languid and meandering in its own way – too many dwarf shenanigans in Bag End and did Radagast the Brown really add anything (time will tell there as it does set up Dol Guldur). Perhaps the premise is too slight in comparison to Lord of the Rings’ epic scope and finely sculpted drama. Can the dwarves really have the same combined effect as the fellowship of Aragorn etc…?

While there is that slower, more fractured pace which may not please everyone expecting another pulse-pounding adventure like Fellowship it does suit the atmosphere of The Hobbit, which was always a more picaresque journey of random meetings and encounters on the road, building towards an ending instead of the more complex, multi-strand narrative of Lord of the Rings. Personally, I just enjoyed being a visitor in that world again. The cinematography is luscious and the New Zealand scenery achingly beautiful and epic, so I felt able to forgive a small amount of meandering. I do hope the next two films are a little more dense with incident, though. I don’t think the entire trilogy can sustain that sort of pace, but it is important to remember that this is not Lord of the Rings and it is supposed to be a different film with a different atmosphere. Not the aura of descending dread that permeates LOTR, but a slightly more optimistic (initially) and less oppressive feeling.

As I watched, memories of the classic scenes from the Hobbit drifted back to me hazily, like the Trolls, the reading of the runes in the moonlight and the fantastically played riddles in the dark sequence with Gollum. Andy Serkis is magnificent once again and Gollum, with the advance in CGI over ten years, is an even more believable and solid creation.

Speaking of CGI, I did feel its overuse in this film. Undoubtedly the technology has improved, but orc faces are CGI-ed here rather than real as they are in the LOTR films, and the goblins are all CGI. This was my personal issue with Jackson’s King Kong. His use of CGI in that film was excessive and just ridiculous at times. I felt the same here when the Dwarves escape from the goblins, running down the wooden gantries and then the drop down hundreds of feet in a very similar manner to a scene in King Kong. It becomes so cartoonish that I never feel as though the characters are in any jeopardy in these scenes. The set-pieces are too elaborate for their own good and just feel too orchestrated. This only serves to make the action feel distanced, like it was in the Brontosaur stampede in King Kong or many other CGI-heavy superhero films. When I think back to the visceral quality of the final Uruk-hai battle in Fellowship, it strikes me that CGI rarely has that quality, except perhaps the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in Return of the King which is as much to do with the terrific sound design as anything else.

I don’t want to rant about CGI, but I think the problem is often an issue of CGI-animated characters or creatures having little or no ‘life’ about them, because the animators are trying too hard to make everything so utterly perfect in terms of motion and texture, and that often results in an unnatural motion. Gollum is the exception to such an effect, mainly because he is motion-captured to such a degree that he is essentially a CGI skin for Andy Serkis.

Those reservations aside, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a feast for the senses and a pleasant return to Middle Earth. Martin Freeman is great as young Bilbo and I look forward to the next film.

Note: I didn’t watch it in the much-discussed 48FPS version. I did see it in 3D, which does make some of the landscapes really pop and you feel the vertiginous heights of the various mountain-tops keenly, but overall I guess I could have lived without it.

After an incredibly long time (A year and a half almost to the day…), Volume 15 of Dark Tales is out. It doesn’t contain any of my stories this time, but does have four by friends of mine – Georgina Bruce, Iain Paton, Paul Johnson-Jovanovic and Richard Smith, and again the gorgeous artwork is by Candra Hope.

Dark Tales gave me a huge boost by publishing two of my stories in the past, and in my opinion would be one of the great independent UK SF/F/Horror print zines if it could stick to a regular publishing schedule. Understandably, though, it is all the work of one man, Sean Jeffery, and as I know well, there is only so much you can accomplish on your own with the pressures of normal life to take care of at the same time.

I’ve often thought about trying to get involved with a zine, online or print, in a slush-reading capacity to begin with perhaps, but I already know that I struggle enough to focus my time and energy on simply writing every day, so that sort of extra-curricular activity (no matter how educational) has to wait.

Anyway, go, support the small press and buy a copy of Dark Tales Volume 15!

A recent trip to Perthshire allowed me to visit Crieff, an old market town in the heart of Scotland. Once upon a time that was a beating heart, with Crieff the site of the largest cattle market or ‘tryst’ in the whole country. All of this is pertinent to the novel I wish to write this year, and in essence I have begun writing it. Pages of notes are emerging, but I need to do a lot of research into the historical period I’m setting it in (18th century Scotland mainly) and the background to the character’s professions (drovers – intrepid, hard men who walked hundreds of miles for a pittance and kept the main industry of the time alive).

Unfortunately, all that remains as a standing monument to the legacy of the drovers in Crieff, and to the yearly trysts, was a building out the back of the horrific 1970’s visitor centre (an entire wall of porcelain dogs anyone? Just what you want to buy on a visit to Crieff) with a 15 minute DVD about the history and a few placards on the wall telling the story. At least there was something, but it wasn’t exactly much to inspire the casual visitor about a time in Scotland’s (and the UK’s) history that shaped the land and the politics. That, and the drovers themselves were truly amazing men surviving on little more than cold oatmeal, onions and whisky to drive hundreds of cattle across the hills and glens. The only ordinary men at the time legally sanctioned to carry weapons.

Not that my novel is to be purely about the history. I want to weave in the folklore and fantasy, Celtic and otherwise, and tell a story – a mystery – that I’m gradually getting quite excited about.

Mulling over titles – ‘The Drover’ seems obvious, succinct, a little dull. “The Drover and the Well of Sciehallion” seems a mouthful, intriguing, a little Harry Potter. They are all I have at the moment. It’s coming together. Watch this space.

Oh yeah, that’s right, I have a blog. Poorly neglected of late, and why you may ask?

I’ve always wanted to use it mainly for writing about writing, and to report my own successes and failures and works-in-progress, etc… And sometimes allow myself to improvise on random subjects, but my creative brain has been in some sort of extended hibernation. Spring is working its wonders, though. I have been writing a new short story, current title – ‘Closer to Death‘ – which is perhaps somewhat morbid, but is following my more recent foray into more magical realist/surreal pieces of work. I’m taking my time with it, trying to make it something as special as it can be.

Currently I have six submissions out, all short stories, two as reprints with podcast sites, and four with a variety of pro zines.

The main thing on my mind, though, is writing a novel, and I have begun researching the background for one I really want to write. It will be a form of historical fantasy, and I’m sure most folk who know me and my writing will say, “Historical Fantasy?” with an audible question mark. All I can say is that it’s not what you’re thinking. It concerns a hugely important piece of Scotland’s history that I’ve not personally seen covered in much fiction, although Rob Roy is a famous exponent of the career I’m featuring in the story. And the structure and idea has more in common with Arthur Penn’s outstanding 1970 film ‘Little Big Man‘ than anything else, although a little less picaresque in execution (I hope).

It’s an idea I’ve had in my head since last year, but has taken form of late after adventures around the Scottish countryside, inspired by the folklore surrounding so many bits of it, and the rich social history stretching back to prehistoric times with the mysterious cup and ring markings everywhere. Lots of disparate elements that I hope to bring together into something that I can actually submit and sell. Must work hard!

Actually this is just a random musing on how story ideas come about, and then how they grow into something more than just a ‘…wouldn’t it be great if’ scribble in my writing ideas file.

Yes. I have a writing ideas file. This is not something I hear many writers talk about openly. Do they hold all their ideas in their head? Do they scratch them into little A7 notebook with a pencil that they keep in their sweaty back pocket?(I don’t know why it needs to be sweaty, but I’m improvising here, okay…) Or, like me do they have a word file (currently at 7021 words – longer than most of my short stories and regularly backed up) containing all my various notions, from single line pontifications to large-scale novel plans complete with character sketches and so on (well, I have two of those, the rest are short story ideas in various forms of development). There are other idea files, but those are ones further along the line of progression, complete with actual writing, and they deserve a file all of their own.

Recently, I’ve been trying to develop a new short story idea to work on and, despite my lengthy multitudes of ideas, taking that spark or seed or activating that hideous mushroom spore of creativity(in the case of my darker tales) can be remarkably difficult. I can sit and riff on the idea, coming up with some stuff, but I know, in my heart that it’s just not working – so it gets shelved and I try something else. And then, just when I’m giving up and ploughing back into already-written stories and tinkering with lines here and there, along comes a new idea, fully-formed and breathing, flapping its prodigious arms around and screaming ‘look at me!’ And it’s then easy to write, in fact, it writes itself to an extent. I can’t type fast enough to get all the ideas down, and when I finally think I’m done and fall into bed, a scene starts writing in my head and I have to get up again and scribble it down on whatever I have to hand – a notebook, the back of an envelope, a crumpled lottery ticket.

And now, I actually have two ideas on the go. One of each variety. The main work in progress is a short story from an idea I’ve had for years, inspired in part to be resurrected by an anthology I’d like to submit to. And at the same time, a whole new idea was born after watching the BBC programme about ‘what makes a genius’ and one character on there inspired me. As soon as I finish the current story, that one is waiting in the wings, snorting its fury at me for not being attended to straight away. But, unlike Steve Martin, I only have one brain.

Online from today at The Absent Willow Review, is my short story ‘Whisper’. It’s my only attempt at a sort of post-apocalyptic future fantasy cross-genre thing. Or something… I’m not fond of genre tags, but they are hard to escape from when pressed into a description. Head on over and read it here for free!

It’s up with a collection of other stories and artwork, including ‘The Dog’ by Jack Westlake, a gritty, post-apocalyptic story I’ve already had the privilege to read.

‘Whisper‘ has been accepted for publication by The Absent Willow Review. It will be online in the February 16th 2010 issue. Check out the site for plenty of good fiction and some nice artwork with each story.

Not quite there yet, but the ’embers’ are almost upon us. All the signs are there – wind and rain; shorter days; the hint of a cold at the back of my throat.

Making progress on my other main project of the year other than the novel – The Streets of Edinburgh. Which is a working title for the collection. He says, speaking of potential short story collections before even a single one of them is published. Saying that, I have some serious interest in Saint Stephen Street from a good zine, but they are only interested in seeing a shorter version now. So I am undertaking the painful process of chopping it up like so much fatty meat into a tender, lean steak that I pray they will find tasty enough to put on the menu (end of metaphor… deep breath).

I have written a completed first draft of Castle Street – my first foray into a form of contempary fantasy (although one reviewer quite astutely pointed out that it is an allegory for addiction). I am about halfway through Great Junction Street – which will lean more towards horror and explore the seedier, unpleasant side to the city.

Once I finish that, I can no longer delay the novel redraft. It’s been too long already so I need to launch into it. Once I start I’ll update the progress on here in a more regularly posted work-journal sort of thing. For my own benefit as much as anyone who might be interested in such things.

I was trawling through the Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror section in Waterstones yesterday after work. The Sci-fi and Fantasy section is by far the largest part, with Horror relegated to 2 sides of a half shelf.

What is it about vampires? Their popularity seems to be as immortal as the creatures themselves, yet most small press publications shy away from vampire stories unless they are startlingly original. For a startlingly original vampire short story, I suggest checking out Murky Depths issue#4 and the story Day Boy by Trent Jamieson or, from the same publication’s issue#5 So This is Mi by Alison Littlewood which manages to tell a story of blood drinking without mentioning anything else traditionally associated with vampires.

Personally, I have grown thoroughly bored with them, but their popularity is consistently renewed – see the whole Stephanie Meyer phenomenon. I picked up one of her books to see if I was missing out on some great thing, but lost interest rather swiftly. If I never see another introspective, philosophical dandy vampire speaking in mock-Georgian English it won’t be soon enough. The modern picture of a vampire that so many teens seem to swoon over again and again is that of a pale, scowling, effete arsehole smelling of flowers or, with the crossover type thing that I first saw in Blade, ridiculous weaponry using all the dull staples of garlic, silver etc… in leather coats looking moody on a rain swept rooftop at night.

I guess the vampire is here to stay – a sub-genre that is very much a genre of its own now. Are there really no new ideas out there? I often feel that there must be some primal or mythic source that is sitting there waiting to be mined and turned into a new legendary creature. If anybody finds one, can they let me know?